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When asked to comment on their religious affiliation, most Japanese continue to identify themselves as Buddhists. And yet the majority of Japanese Buddhists come into contact with Buddhist institutions only following the death of a loved one, when a priest is called on to perform funeral and memorial rites. Many regard this situation as evidence of Buddhism's increasing irrelevance to contemporary Japanese society, perhaps even an indication that Japanese Buddhism is not long for this world.
Some also find it troubling that these rituals are ostensibly performed for the well-being of the soul of the deceased, flagrantly contradicting the central tenets of "true" Buddhism, which stresses an unsentimental acceptance of impermanence and the nonexistence of the soul. So-called funerary Buddhism, however, is not unique to Japan, and, contrary to popular belief, Japanese Buddhism's concern for the dying and the dead is not something that has emerged only recently. Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism, edited by Jacqueline I. Stone and Mariko Namba Walter, explores the diverse ways in which the Japanese Buddhist tradition has been employed for more than ten centuries to provide ritual and doctrinal means for dealing with the problem of death.
The book begins with an excellent introduction, which, in addition to chapter summaries, provides a broad overview of the development of mortuary rites in Japan. The introduction also identifies themes that tie together the book's nine chapters. Throughout the volume, one theme in particular surfaces repeatedly in many fascinating variations: how Buddhists have historically embraced what Duncan Williams describes as "contradictory logics" in their attempts to deal with the complex...